1. Field of Invention
The present disclosure relates to inflatable water toys and, in particular, to an inflatable water slide.
2. Background
Toy water slides have been a popular summertime activity for children for decades. Toy water slides generally comprise an elongated strip or sheet of plastic material that is secured to a ground area, and a sprinkler tube coupled along a side of the sliding surface to sprinkle water onto the sheet of plastic to lubricate it and create a wet and slippery sliding surface for the user. The user can then run towards the sheet of plastic and either slide or flop onto the sheet, where the inertia created by the run causes the user to slide or plane across the elongated sheet towards a terminal end of the sheet.
Water slides have been disclosed and marketed by many brands and recreational toy companies. However, there has been little innovation in the category and nothing has been done to soften the harsh landing at the beginning of the slide or to improve its performance, which is typically measured by children and parents as the ability and speed in which the user successfully traverses the length of the slide, the smoothness in which the user transitions from an upright crawl to an extended layout position on the sliding surface, and how “wet” the user becomes throughout the entire sliding experience. Finally, because most of the current art utilizes a planar or flat sliding surface, there is typically no cue or index to indicate to the user where they should start their sliding experience.
Current water slides in the art have several disadvantages. For instance, most users don't “take off” or transition from their upright crawl position onto the water slide until they reach the starting edge of the sliding surface and, as a result, do not use, for example, the first twelve to eighteen inches of the water slide. Therefore, their sliding experience is shortened.
In addition, most sprinkler systems used along the sides of the sliding surface to lubricate the slide are typically designed in such a way that the parabolic effect of water cascading from the sprinkler systems prevent the first two to three feet of the sliding surface from being properly wetted. To that end, even if the user times his or her “take off” such that their initial engagement with the water slide is perfectly at the start of the sliding surface, he/she would land on a relatively dry surface. Not to mention, such timing is hardly intuitive and can be likened to the intense training and discipline required of professional track and field athletes that take off perfectly at the edge of a long jump run-way. Landing on a hardened, dry sliding surface, as typically experienced with current water slides, is not only painful for the user, but the lack of lubrication often prevents the user from successfully traversing the length of the water slide.
Accordingly, a need therefore exists for a water slide that provides cushioning for the user during takeoff to minimize impact and injury as the user engages the water slide at the starting end, and provides lubrication along the entire length of water slide to maximize the velocity, speed, and momentum in which the user slides.